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The Stairs in the Woods

Part 2 of 2

By Kelsey ReichPublished 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago 9 min read
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The Stairs in the Woods
Photo by Carolina Pimenta on Unsplash

Avoiding stairs had become so natural that when Jason’s girlfriend moved into the third floor of a ten story building, he only used the elevator. He didn’t even know where the stairwell was until one day him and his girlfriend came inside to find the elevator out of order.

“It’s only three flights, we will just walk up,” she said with a smile.

Sweat pricked the back of his neck as he followed her into the concrete stairwell. It isn’t the top, he told himself repeatedly, rubbing at his arm. Ten flights, that’s the top. Much higher.

He put a foot on the first stair, tightly gripping the railing. His girlfriend looked down at him from the first floor, “Jay, hurry up! I want to watch an episode of Handmaid’s Tale before the party.”

“Yeah,” he sucked in a breath, “I’ll be there in a minute.”

He slowly walked up to the first landing. The concrete was painted pale blue with a red stripe following the angle of the stairs. Nothing changed. He looked to his girlfriend. She was still her. His arm ached, that spot where he had broken it when he was ten.

He kept going, trailing behind his girlfriend one flight at a time, face pale and shirt soaked in sweat. She looked back, “Hon, are you okay? Did you get heat stroke today?”

“Yeah, maybe,” he muttered. Everything was okay. Everything remained normal as they entered the hallway. Mustard yellow carpet and flowered wallpaper.

He sat on the couch, his girlfriend flitting around the apartment brought him some water and Tylenol. When he assured her he was okay she went to watching her show. Jason slowly relaxed, thinking everything was fine. Nothing had changed. He hadn’t touched the top stair.

“Will you come to the party?” She asked, “It’s on the roof. A few of the neighbours will be there.”

“No, I think I better not.”

“Oh, are you still feeling the heat stroke?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. You go and enjoy yourself.”

“Okay hunny,” She put on her shoes, swinging the door open but the hallway was not normal. It was black and oozing. The doors gaping shadows.

“Stop!” Jason screamed. But she was already out the door, her hair and clothes falling and vanishing before they hit the ground. Limbs lengthening to become long and pale with sharp nails. It turned, the top of its skull splitting open to reveal needle sharp teeth.

Jason screamed. He forced the door shut, flipping all the locks closed. His girlfriends muffled voice came through, “Hon? What the hell?”

His heart thundered in his chest. Would closing the door be enough? His breath sounded loud and ragged. He looked through the peephole. She was there. Completely normal. The hallway back to mustard yellow carpet and flowered wallpaper.

She banged on the door, “What is going on?”

He opened it. Still normal, “I’m so sorry. I thought I saw a bee.”

“A bee?”

“Yes, I’m deathly allergic you know.”

“You never told me that!” She thought for a moment, “Didn’t you get stung by a bee last summer.”

“No. That was a wasp.”

She glared daggers at him. She knew he was lying and he knew this was over. He would never come back here. It was the cycle of his life, every time another incident occurred, Jason would move on.

When his father invited him over for dinner one night, Jason reluctantly agreed. If Emerson was big enough to say yes, so was he. His dad cooked steaks and baked potatoes on the barbecue while Emerson cut some vegetables for a salad. Jason noticed an unusual amount of beer bottles in the recycling bin and a set of bedding folded up in the corner of the living room. He didn’t bring it up. Conversation was stilted and uncomfortable. Their father still tried to call Emerson by his birth name.

Emerson set down his cutlery and looked to Jason, “Ready to go?”

They had only just sat down to start eating but Jason nodded. They were halfway to the door when Jason heard his father say something that chilled him to the bone.

“I climbed the spiral staircase in the woods.”

Jason froze, turning back to face his father. He had never seen his dad look so terrified. Like he had aged ten years in a minute.

“I see them too now son. I think we need to go back there together if we want this to stop.”

Emerson already had his shoes on, the door open, but he stopped, “The bad things?”

Jason and Emerson returned to the kitchen table while their father pulled out a map of Algonquin Park that was covered in red circles, “I’ve been mapping the sightings of the staircase. It shows up in different places around the park but I think we should go back to the place where you first saw it. We climb the stairs together.”

“And then?” Emerson asked, poking at his cold dinner with a fork.

Their father looked each of them in the eyes, “And then Jason will be free of the bad things. You two can live your lives.”

Jason asked, concerned, “Us two?”

“All of us. We can all live our lives,” their father said, quickly folding up the map, “I think we should go now.”

“In the dark?”

“Yes, I’ll drive,” their father insisted. At some point the boys fell asleep on the way there, Jason woke with a stiff neck in the passenger seat. It was early. His dad was brewing some coffee on a small gas stove next to the car. Emerson was stretched out in the back seat of the SUV, snoring softly.

His dad handed him a cup of coffee. One of those dark blue camping mugs. Jason took a sip, “What do you think they are? The bad things.”

“Lost souls maybe? If you believe in that sort of thing. Monsters from another dimension.”

“Dad,” Jason looked at his father, seeing his tired grey eyes, “I don’t want you to become one of those things.”

His father nodded, finished his mug of coffee and packed up the small cook stove. He didn’t say anything, just knocked on the window of the SUV until Emerson woke with a start. When the boys had finished their coffee the three men walked out into the woods in search of the staircase. Jason and Emerson were reminded of camping in the woods as kids. Neither of them had ever gone back to Algonquin after Jason had broken his arm.

“How did you find the stairs the first time?” Dad asked.

Jason shrugged, “I didn’t find it. I just saw it. We were playing hide and seek, I turned around and then there it was. A spiral staircase in the middle of nowhere.”

“I told you not to climb it,” Emerson whispered.

“I just couldn’t stop myself once I started,” Jason said, “Like it was calling me.”

They continued walking for a time. The sounds of cardinals whooping around them like car alarms. Jason paused for a breath, looking out into the woods when something caught his eye. Glossy black metal. He brushed some saplings aside, not wanting to take his eyes off it in case it disappeared.

“It’s okay son, I’m right behind you,” Dad said as they walked up to the staircase single file. Emerson waited by the base of a large maple tree while the other two began to climb. Jason had the sinking feeling of dread in his stomach as his hand wrapped around the wrought iron railing. He looked back to Emerson who was forcing a reassuring smile. They nodded to each other as he climbed the stairs with his father. They moved slowly and deliberately, one step at a time.

“Ready?” Dad asked. Jason nodded, took a breath, and then put his foot on the final step. Just like always the sound and colour drained from the world in less than a second. The monsters looked up from whatever they were doing, baring their needle sharp teeth. Jason could feel a searing pain in his arm, where he had broken it when he was a kid.

His dad patted him on the back, “It’s okay son. It will all be okay.”

As the creatures began to swarm the stairwell, Jasons’ father pushed him off the stairs, “I’m sorry. Take care of your little brother for me.”

Jason twisted in midair, shouted for his father but it was too late. He was already back in the real world and the stairwell was gone. The cardinals were still whooping. Emerson crouched down beside him, “What happened to dad?”

Jason swallowed, his mouth dry, “I… I don’t think he is coming back.”

The two brothers remained there for a long time. Just breathing, waiting, on the off chance that their father appeared. They waited for what felt like hours, the sun creeping below the line of the forest before Emerson silently helped Jason to his feet. The two of them packed the camping gear and drove back to their fathers house.

Jason stood at the foot of the stair for a long time, working up his courage. Emerson finally took him by the hand. They walked to the top together. Jason opened the door to his old bedroom and began to sob. The monsters were gone but so was his father.

___________________________________

This fiction was written for the podcast Believing the Bizarre and is available as a theatrical reading. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts and follow the show on Insta @believingthebizarre.

If you enjoyed this bit of fiction, please support my work with a heart and check out the rest by clicking the owl! As this is an early draft, I’d appreciate constructive criticism. Let me know what you thought on FB, Twitter, or Insta @akelseyreich.

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Written by Kelsey Reich on May 23/2021 in Ontario, Canada.

Horror
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About the Creator

Kelsey Reich

🏳️‍🌈 Life-long learner, artist, creative writer, and future ecologist currently living in Ontario.

Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and buy me a coffee @akelseyreich!

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